Port Metro Vancouver truckers reach deal to end strike (updated)

Rob Shaw and Matthew Robinson, Vancouver Sun03.27.2014

A convoy of unionized truckers on strike make their way north over the Knight Street bridge into Vancouver to hold a rally at Jack Poole Plaza over the noon-hour Friday. VANCOUVER, March 21, 2014.Jenelle Schneider
/ PNG

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VICTORIA — Striking truckers at Port Metro Vancouver will be back on the job Thursday morning, under a tentative deal brokered at the B.C. legislature.

Premier Christy Clark made the announcement after a flurry of negotiations in legislature committee rooms involving several Liberal cabinet ministers and representatives from more than 1,500 union and non-union truckers.

"This agreement means our port is now open for business again starting tomorrow morning," Clark said.

B.C. will now abandon its back-to-work legislation for the 250 unionized truckers represented by Unifor.

"You shouldn't have a fight if you can get a deal," said Clark. "We got a deal instead and we're delighted by it."

Truckers who go back to the job will soon get more cash for moving containers. The federal government agreed to boost trip rates by 12 per cent over 2006 rates within 30 days. The rates apply to all moves of containers, whether they're full or empty.

The Government of Canada also agreed to regulate a benchmark minimum rate for hourly drivers — anticipated to be $25.13 for new hires and $26.28 for drivers with one year of service.

Truckers will also gain from a new escalating fee arrangement for wait times at the port. After 90 minutes of waiting, owner-operators will be paid $50. By two hours that fee increases by another $25. At two-and-a-half hours another $25 will go to the drivers, and every half-hour after that they'll receive $20.

Clark said all parties had to sit down and look each other in the eye to realize ultimately they weren't far from a deal.

Unifor president Jerry Dias said truckers came to the legislature on Wednesday with the intent to announce they would defy back-to-work legislation. But over the course of six to seven hours managed to hammer out a deal.

"The outcome is an outcome we'd been looking for all along," said Dias. "It's not just a solution for the short term, it's a solution for the long term."

Mediator Vince Ready now has 90 days to meet with each of the parties to review and finalize the terms.

Clark said many of the issues on the table, including waiting times at the port, were under the responsibility of the federal government, but B.C. felt it had to get involved to bridge the gap.

"They weren't going to find the solution," he said. "Their solution was take it or leave it. It's very important the government here today stood forward and took a leadership role because if we were waiting for the feds to find a solution the port would still be down tomorrow."

There were no details on how long the deal would be for, with that to be hammered out by Ready.

The tentative deal addresses "all the contentious issues," said Dias.

Raitt said in a news release the federal government is "pleased that truckers have agreed to get back to work."

"Our economic prosperity, competitiveness and ability for our products to reach new markets depends on a well functioning port," she said, adding that the government would work with the province and the port to make sure "truckers get back to work and keep our economy on track."

Port Metro Vancouver issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, before the deal was announced, hailing the plan as the best way to end the dispute.

"There are financial wins in the plan for truckers," port CEO Robin Silvester said in the statement. "It is in all of our best interests that truckers come out of this dispute with their issues resolved because disruptions like this hurt each of us."

Under the 15-point deal, drivers who had their licences suspended during the 28-day strike but who were not criminally charged will get back their papers. That point covers at least some of the 34 drivers who had their licenses revoked for acts including blocking the port during the strike, said John Parker-Jervis, a spokesman with Port Metro Vancouver. Parker-Jervis said he did not know how many of those drivers were charged after their actions.

Port Metro Vancouver also agreed in the plan not to take any further action against drivers who had participated in the job action, but who return to work Thursday.

B.C. and Port Metro Vancouver will create by June 15 a whistle-blowing mechanism to report safety issues or issues of

intimidation or harassment, something that non-unionized drivers told The Sun last week was rampant in the business.

The port will also start by March 31 an "extended-hours pilot project" that would be based on expected volume forecasts at each of the terminals. Port officials also committed to restructuring their trucking licensing system to make it more stable and agreed to work with the federal government to outfit the trucking fleet with GPS devices.

The province will expand and strengthen its auditing powers to cover all trucking companies for both union and non-union drivers. The plan provides for severe penalties for the wrongdoing of drivers and their companies, including cancelled licenses.

Trucks account for about half of the traffic in and out of the port, with the other half moving by rail.

Earlier in the strike, the port said truck traffic was at about 10 per cent of normal levels, though it had increased to about 40 per cent last week.

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